Blair on defence

Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to defend his plans today to reform England's schools as he faced the press on the day after the largest rebellion by Labour MPs since the Government was re-elected last year.

Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to defend his plans today to reform England's schools as he faced the press on the day after the largest rebellion by Labour MPs since the Government was re-elected last year.

Mr Blair was going to face tough questioning over the extent to which his authority has been damaged by his reliance on Conservative votes to get the Education Bill through its second reading in the House of Commons.

He was also to be challenged on the state of Labour's finances, after the party's treasurer Jack Dromey last night sensationally revealed that he was not informed about secret loans running into millions of pounds. Mr Dromey called in sleaze watchdogs the Electoral Commission and launched his own inquiry into the loans, while Tory backbencher Nigel Evans accused Labour of a financial "shambles" comparable to the scandals at US energy company Enron.

Some 52 Labour MPs voted against the Education Bill last night, including eight of Mr Blair's former ministers.

Although the Bill was passed by a comfortable majority of 343, the scale of the revolt was more than enough to overturn Mr Blair's working majority of 69, had he not enjoyed the support of David Cameron's Conservatives.

Left-winger John McDonnell, chair of the Labour Representation Committee, said Blair had "effectively resigned as leader" by accepting Tory backing to force through his bill against resistance from his own MPs. He compared Mr Blair to Labour's first Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who split the party by having a coalition with the Tories in 1931. But Education Secretary Ruth Kelly played down the significance of the backbench revolt, insisting that her proposals had "overwhelming support".